Archive for the 'Poor Governing' Category

09
Jul
09

The Marlins are ROBBING Miami

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Categories: Baseball and Poor Governing
Tags: ,

1379723371_60a1aa76faAfter years of wrangling the tax-payers, the Florida Marlins are now set to break ground on their new stadium in Little Havana, the project originally estimated to be around $1.8-2 billion has now seen cost estimates soar to approximately $2.4 billion. That seems like a lot.

Fortunately, the Marlins, awash in cash from their packed house every night are paying for the entire stadium out of their pocket.

Wait, I’m being informed that isn’t accurate. Oh, you’re telling me the Marlins are contributing $120 million towards construction and another $35 million to repay a loan from the county and that’s it? Seems to me that is a robust 6% of the ENTIRE construction costs. Wow, nicely done Marlins. I’m not quite clear how the team was able to swindle the city into giving them this deal, but it is an AWFUL one for the city. Even worse, the team is locking itself into a 40 year deal with the city, meaning that after the first season in the new park when the fans stop showing up, as they have done consistently in Florida, the city will be on the hook without gaining much back.

‘This is the sort of financing you do when you cannot afford it,” said Leo Guzman, president of securities firm Guzman & Co. in Coral Gables, who is not involved in the deal. Sounds like a ringing endorsement!

Also, the team is only building 37,000 seats, which is only a few hundred more than Fenway Park holds. The Red Sox sell out every game because their fans are passionate and so are able to contend thanks to high ticket prices and demand. The Marlins average 17K fans at their games, which is being VERY generous with counting, I simply don’t see how this will work out in the end for Miami, the Marlins or the citizens of Miami. Shame on the city managers who agreed to this deal in the first place.

Everyone would be best served by allowing the team to move to a market where the fans will actually show up to the games. Clearly the product on the field isn’t the issue because even when the Marlins were winning World Series the fans don’t show up until the playoffs.

[Sun-Sentinel]

23
Jun
09

Where A Bike is More Important Than a Person

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Categories: Douches, Football, Other Sports, Poor Governing and Random
Tags: , , , ,

armstrong_lanceJust another follow-up to the Donte Stallworth justice system debacle; Lee Monroe Crider, 40, pleaded no contest and received a 3 year prison sentence for second-degree burglary and grand theft for stealing Lance Armstrong’s custom $10,000 bike. Crider’s co-defendant Dung Hoang Le received a 90 day sentence and three years probation on a misdemeanor charge.

That means that for stealing a BICYCLE, one man will be penalized 3 times as much as Donte Stallworth was for KILLING a PERSON, and the other receives a mere 1065 MORE days in prison than Stallworth will be getting. It must be nice to be able to buy your way out of consequences. I officially give up.

[ESPN]

05
Jun
09

One Man to Stop the Tanks

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Categories: Awesome, Poor Governing and Random
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This has nothing to do with sports but it is simply an incredible picture. This previously unreleased photo from June 5th, 1989 is of the unknown man who stood in Tiananmen Square and blocked the tanks as three other men flee the scene. After the jump is the more well-known iconic image from this moment. The 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square was yesterday and this photo, from the AP was first made available today. Amazing.

t14_19258029

[The Big Picture]

Continue reading ‘One Man to Stop the Tanks’

29
May
09

And It’s the Luv Guv By Inches

By slanch 1 Comment
Categories: Awesome, Other Sports, Poor Governing and Random
Tags: , , , , , , ,

29luvgov_600Marylou Whitney, a octogenarian heiress and horse racing enthusiast and her husband John Hendrickson own two horses named after former New York Governor Spitzer’s quick fail from grace after revelations about prostitutes came out. One, named “The Ninth Client” after his name in FBI files and the other is named after the NY Post’s excellent headline after the scandal broke, “The Luv Guv.” Formerly named “Town Prowler,” after the precipitous decline of Mr. Spitzer, Whitney and Hendrickson opted to change the 2-year old thoroughbred’s name. Since then, Luv Guv has struggled, taking 10 tries before winning his first race, but this next weekend he’ll be vying for the longest leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes.

If Luv Guv were to win, theoretically it could lead to a hilarious awkward moment where current Governor, David Paterson — a extracurricular paramour in his own right — would be presenting the trophy to Whitney and Hendrickson.

The owners insist that the changing of the name was not solely because of Spitzer. “There’s been a lot of love govs,” Mr. Hendrickson said, mentioning, among others, James E. McGreevey, who resigned as governor of New Jersey in 2004 after disclosing an affair with a man.

“We’re not trying to poke fun at him,” Mr. Hendrickson said. “We are Republicans, but we did support him. I think we each gave $10,000, and we like him. We thought this was a fun name.”

Fortunately, the NY Times managed to get a comment from horse racing enthusiast, former NY Senate Majority Leader, Skidmore College alum and sometime-facist, Joe Bruno who was a big rival of Spitzer’s. “I thought it was hilarious. The situation with the governor was pretty tragic and reprehensible, and I think for them to kind of weigh in to lighten the mood of all that was going on around such a real tragedy, I think was great.”

The Times contacted Spitzer for a comment but he declined.

After the jump, stay tuned for another neat connection between to owners and Governor Paterson that goes way back in horse racing history.

[NY Times]

Continue reading ‘And It’s the Luv Guv By Inches’

11
May
09

Without Boner Ads I Wouldn’t Know About Priapism

By slanch Leave a Comment
Categories: Douches, Poor Governing and Random
Tags: , ,

MassiveErectionYou may — or may not — have heard that America is waist-deep in a recession; that we are currently engaged in two wars, neither of which show signs of letting up anytime soon and those are just some of the many issues facing our elected representatives in Congress.

So, with all these big issues on the table, I’m glad to hear that Congressman Bill Brady from Pennsylvania is making strides to fix the things that are truly wrong in this country. Brady has introduced a bill that would ban all Viagra, Cialis, and male sexual enhancement product adds on TV and radio from 6 am to 10 pm. FINALLY!

The reason for this piece of legislation?

I’m watching TV with my two granddaughters and it was a little embarrassing and I think it was bad that they asked me, ‘What is erectile dysfunction?’ And I stumble along and they’re too young to understand it and they’re much too young to learn about the birds and the bees yet….If they’re on a show and you don’t want your kids to see a certain show, you don’t put that show on, but you can’t control when the commercials come on. I think that it’s the wrong place, on a Saturday afternoon and a Sunday afternoon, these shows are dominated [by these commercials].

Brady knows, of course, that this isn’t the most important issue facing the nation right now but at the same time, children are hearing words like “ERECTILE” on TELEVISION!

I’m worried about other things too but we can do more than one thing at a time. It isn’t like Viagra is all I’m worried about. This is another thing that I think will help the family get back together, where you can sit down and watch a TV show or watch a sporting event with your children, with your family on a Sunday afternoon and not have to put up with explaining what a male enhancement is or what is an erectile dysfunction.

Want to explain things to your grandkids? Tell them that the pharmaceutical companies discovered that they could make more money by making adults have more “happy time” rather than providing cures, preventions or vaccinations that the public as a whole needs. Tell them that the profit margin in making Grampa’s boner go “boing” is much better than helping the millions of people who have come to rely on the overly-exorbitant priced prescription pills despite there being the exact same pills for a quarter of the price located just over the Canadian border. Tell the kids its about greed and avarice. They’ll understand that. It’s the American way!

If we didn’t have boner pill ads we wouldn’t hear about Priapism, which I love because it is named after the Greek god Priapus from the myth that he was punished by the other gods for attempting to rape a goddess, by being given a huge, but useless, set of wooden genitals. Now that’s something I can get behind!

[Sports Radio Interviews]

17
Apr
09

Show Me State Says Keep Your Ballots Secret

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Categories: Awesome, Hockey and Poor Governing
Tags: , ,

HKO-U20-RUSSIA/USA HOCKEY TOPIXSt. Louis Blues rookie TJ Oshie has made many fans this season, but one fan may have landed in trouble thanks to a cell-phone photo.

During the mayoral elections for O’Fallon, Missouri, a voter put Oshie’s name on the ballot as a write-in candidate. A waste of a vote perhaps, but not illegal. Unfortunately, the voter then took a photo of the ballot and posted it on the internet, which, since it’s illegal to share the contents of a completed ballot means the voter is in trouble.

“[The voter] violated the law, and I’m going to prosecute,” elections director Rich A. Chrismer told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “They may have thought the photo was cute, but it was very serious.”

“You can’t violate something as sacred as the ballot,” Chrismer said. “People won’t trust going to a polling place if they think somebody is walking around with a camera.”

If convicted the voter could face a year in jail and a US$2,500 fine.

[National Post]

10
Apr
09

Nationals Strike Out With Art Too

By slanch 1 Comment
Categories: Baseball and Poor Governing
Tags: , , , ,

ph2009040804240As awful as the product on the field is, all 6 Washington Nationals fans can take solace in at least that they play in a gorgeous new ball-park. Unfortunately, the District’s government is intent on ruining the beauty of the stadium. On Wednesday, 4 new public works of art were revealed at the stadium just inside the center field gates featuring former stars of Washington baseball past, Walter Johnson, Frank Howard and Josh Gibson. In addition, a giant mobile was hung by the food concessions on the first base line. Soon, fans may actually prefer to see the awful play on the field, if only to erase the awful memory of these works of “art.”

ph2009040804235The statues were designed by Israeli-born sculptor Omri Amrany, who is now based in Highwood, Illinois and who specializes in sports art. He may want a new specialty. Intending to use the bronze and capture the speed of the game, Amrany instead made the players look like they have multiple limbs and tumorous growths on their backs. Amrany says that the bronze growths that push out from the players’ backs and legs are meant somehow to indicate the momentum of their actions; that their multiple limbs are meant to convey the players’ moving parts. Instead, they make the players nearly unrecognizable and ruin the overall pieces.

ph2009040804319The mobile, actually comprised of 4 different mobiles was designed by Washington-based artist Walter Kravitz and while less awful than the bronze statues are boring and uninspired. Featuring wacky cut-outs of players in Scooby-Doo-type colors they left one child who saw them saying, “I really don’t like how they did the bodies.” And if you can’t impress kids with your art, then just get out of the game.

Fortunately, these works only cost $600,000 out of the public coffers. Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE public funding of art, I think it is an extremely important thing for our government to do, I just wish they had picked better artists…However, considering how middling the Nationals are likely to be for the near future, maybe these statues make perfect sense…

[Washington Post]

07
Apr
09

FINALLY!

By slanch Leave a Comment
Categories: Baseball and Poor Governing
Tags: , ,

The news gathering agents in society have put together the most important clip of the day, the comparison of Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bush throwing out first pitches from yesterday. Now I can sleep.

04
Apr
09

Colts Stadium May Have to Close

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Categories: Football and Poor Governing
Tags: , ,

2008-04indydev010Only a few short months after opening the shiny new Lucas Oil Stadium, the head of the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board said that without an infusion of $47 million the stadium might be forced to close.

The State Senate Appropriations Committee has passed a bill that would raise taxes on alcohol statewide, restaurant meals and hotel stays in Marion county, and tickets to sporting events in Indianapolis but that is facing a tough fight in the larger senate.

A major part of the cost overruns have been the higher-than-expected costs to run the new stadium. The previous Mayor, Bart Peterson, didn’t allocate enough funds, partly because they didn’t do a proper estimate of how much it would cost to run the new stadium.

According to the president of the CIB, Bob Grand, “If you want me to give you worst-cases, I mean the worst-case scenario is we could be out of money and the facilities would be, arguably, closed.” Of course, since he couched it with “arguably” and the state paid $620 million to build it in the first place, this scenario seems unlikely.

Fortunately, the Colts who are the only real tenant of the building have promised to chip in money and are suitably grateful to their fans who built them a stadium so they could be charged money to come visit. Or, instead, Colts President Bill Polian responded with a courteous, “We look forward to working with you and your colleagues in the Legislature in taking a look at this problem and in sharing with you data and information that we will make available to you.”

I hope they close the place to the Colts and turn it over to the citizens of Indianapolis to turn it into the most bad-ass Lazer Tag joint in the country.

[The Indy Channel]

16
Mar
09

Fan is Short for Fantatic

By slanch Leave a Comment
Categories: Douches, Poor Governing, RIP and Soccer
Tags: , , ,

Thanks to our previous President’s excellent stewardship, things in Iraq are settling down, violence is subsiding and the country is getting back to normal, returning to it’s once cosmopolitan way.

Sigh.

Or maybe, instead, immediately following a soccer game between two rivals, one of the players was killed with an errant gunshot.

Annana had just completed a 1-0 win over their neighbors Sinjar when, as one does, a fan shot his gun in the air, or in this case, less so. “A stray bullet hit Annana player Haider Hakem in the chest and he died,” police lieutenant Ali al-Khafaji said.

According to Agence France, “Fans often launch into a blaze of triumphal gunfire in Iraq when major league teams clash.” So there’s that, I suppose.

Anyway, nice liberation W…

[Agence France]

04
Mar
09

Who Wears Short Shorts

By slanch Leave a Comment
Categories: Other Sports, Poor Governing and Random
Tags: , ,

runnerNew York Governor David Paterson is now a cover model after being photographed and interviewed for an upcoming piece in Runner’s World Magazine. And people think the magazine industry is dying! I’m renewing my subscription to Runner’s World RIGHT NOW.

Because he’s legally blind, Paterson didn’t play sports as a child and only got into running recently in his 40s. His wife, Michelle who is an avid runner herself helped push him along by challenging him to participate in the 1999 New York Marathon. “…Her first thought was to tell me not to; she knew it would be the fastest way to get me to do it,” Paterson told Runner’s World. “When I finished the race I had to go to the hospital. I’d become hypothermic.”

Maybe she was still angry about him having affairs at a Days Inn on the upper west side…

Since he’s, you know, blind, he requires a “companion” to keep him from running into a plate glass window or whatever. And how does the governor entertain his brain while he runs? “I hum music to myself while I run, usually old disco tunes, or inspirational songs like ‘I Will Survive’ and the ‘Rocky’ themes, or some old TV themes like ‘Hawaii Five-O’ and ‘Secret Agent Man,’ ” said Paterson.

Nothing says winner more than Gloria Gaynor hummed by a blind man in short shorts…

[NY Post]

17
Oct
08

Sarah Palin Goes Both Ways

By slanch 1 Comment
Categories: Baseball and Poor Governing
Tags: , , , ,

“How about those Tampa Bay Rays?” Gov. Sarah Palin shouted in Jacksonville last week. “You know what that tells me, it tells me that the people in this area know a little something about turning an underdog into a victor,” she said. “And we’re counting on you to help us do that Nov. 4.”

However, at a rally in New Hampshire on October 15, Palin appealed to the other side of the coin, “We’re just 20 days out from the election and it’s gonna come right down to the wire, and we’re counting on you because Red Sox fans know how to turn an underdog into a victor, and that’s exactly what you can help us do on Nov. 4!”

So much for straight talk. Unless straight talk means being duplicitous and disingenuous. Does being a maverick mean saying ANYTHING to try and appeal to people?

“Apparently this team of mavericks thinks straight talk means saying one thing to Rays fans and another to Red Sox fans,” chimed in DNC spokesman Damien LaVera.

Reader Youppi sent along this image to me and, since this blog is all class, I’m posting it below the jump. It’s a bit off color, it’s more than a bit inappropriate and it’s more than a bit hilarious.

Continue reading ‘Sarah Palin Goes Both Ways’

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